He had not even had the furtive decency to hide the money somewhere else.

He had opened it under Cardinal’s own letterhead, as though the company were a thing that existed to be drained rather than a thing eight hundred people poured their working lives into, and in that single administrative choice you could read his entire understanding of what a company was and whom it was for.

The numbers told the truth with a colder precision than any accusation I could have made.

They did not need my anger.